Official: Israel will strike if Iran attacks Tel Aviv

JERUSALEM — Israel’s defense minister said in an interview published Thursday that his country will strike Tehran if attacked by archenemy Iran, escalating an already tense war of words between the two adversaries.

Avigdor Lieberman’s comments, published in the Arabic news site “Elaph,” came as he was in Washington for talks with his U.S. counterpart, Jim Mattis, and other defense officials.

“We hear many (Iranian) threats … but if they attack Tel Aviv, we will strike Tehran,” Lieberman said.

There has been a spike in hostile rhetoric between the bitter rivals since an airstrike on a military base in Syria that Iran and Russia blamed on Israel earlier this month. Seven Iranians were killed in the strike on Syria’s T4 air base.

Israel has neither confirmed nor denied carrying out the strike. Iran has threatened to respond.

On Thursday, the acting commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard said Israel is “frightened” of the presence of Islamic (Republic’s) forces near its borders.

“That’s why we are seeing it launch missiles at bases where our (Iranian) forces are present,” Gen. Hossein Salami was quoted as saying by the official Iranian news agency IRNA.

Israel views Iran as a serious threat due to its nuclear and missile programs, support of violent regional groups and frequent calls for the destruction of the Jewish state.

It has repeatedly warned that it will not allow Iran to establish a permanent military presence in neighboring Syria, where Iran has been backing President Bashar Assad in a seven-year civil war. Israel’s concern is that Iran and its Shiite proxies will turn their focus to attacks on Israel.

At the United Nations, Israel’s ambassador, Danny Danon, showed a map of what he said was “Iran’s central induction and recruitment center in Syria.”